As New York City hospitals continue to grapple with staffing shortages three years into the pandemic, competition for nurses has become fierce – and many who remain in full-time jobs said they now feel more empowered than ever to fight for better working conditions and pay.

Labor tensions crescendoed in January when 7,000 nurses went on strike for three days at Mount Sinai Hospital in Manhattan and Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx.

Historic wins at those facilities – and others that narrowly avoided a strike – had a domino effect. They quickly precipitated sizable pay raises at other medical centers represented by the New York State Nurses Association (NYSNA) and the health care union 1199SEIU. The latter was able to re-open negotiations with a group of 90 hospitals and nursing homes midway through their contract and secure a new deal within days.

But some nurses working at hospitals in New York City say they’re still not out of the woods. Many of their colleagues left their full-time hospital jobs during the pandemic. And while workforce data shows new nurses are still entering the profession, those monitoring health care trends said they have yet to alleviate hospitals’ reliance on temporary staff.

Nurses who have won new staffing commitments from their employers in recent contracts, and through legislation that was passed in Albany in 2021, said they have to stay vigilant to make sure hospitals actually adhere to them.

Meanwhile, NYC Health + Hospitals, which is currently in contract negotiations with NYSNA, is facing new pressure to close the pay gap between public and private institutions so they can better compete for nurses who are in high demand. The NYC Health + Hospitals system primarily serves lower-income New Yorkers who are on Medicaid or uninsured, and pays entry-level nurses about $20,000 less than the average private hospital, according to NYSNA.

Musu King has been a nurse at Lincoln Medical Center, a public hospital in the Bronx, for seven years. She said she watched many colleagues leave during the pandemic and thought about following them.

“But then when I looked at it, I said, ‘OK, if everybody is running away, who is going to serve our population? If I get sick, I'm going to end up in a city hospital. Who is going to take care of me?’”